Ultrasonic Obstacle Detection Device

Abstract

This paper presents the design and first prototype of an Ultrasonic Obstacle Detection Device, a wearable assistive system intended to help visually impaired individuals, especially children in urban areas such as Kolkata, navigate more safely and independently. The device employs dual HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensors with a 15° field of view, positioned at a 61.325° outward angle from the device centerline to minimize blind spots, paired with two vibration motors mounted on a wrist strap to provide haptic feedback. The system is powered by a 3.7 V, 1000 mAh Li-Po battery and controlled by an Arduino Nano integrated on a custom printed circuit board. When an obstacle is detected within 3.35 m, vibration intensity increases proportionally as the object approaches, with independent left/right feedback corresponding to each sensor. Controlled experiments with blind participants demonstrated reliable direction identification, smooth vibration-distance mapping, and consistent activation thresholds. The prototype operated for approximately 25 min per charge, and participants reported that the device was intuitive and comfortable to use. Future work will focus on extending battery life, improving ergonomics, and increasing the vertical field of view.



Received: 3 March 2026 | Revised: 28 April 2026 | Accepted: 19 May 2026



Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work.



Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in the GitHub repository at https://github.com/sushantindupuru/blind-assist-device.



Author Contribution Statement

Rishab Ray: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization, Supervision, Project administration. Sushant Indupuru: Software, Validation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – original draft.